Belmont residents bask in spotlight of election’s glare

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Returning to Massachusetts, Mitt Romney got a kiss from his wife, Ann, after they voted in his hometown of Belmont Tuesday.

By Evan AllenGlobe Correspondent
November 07, 2012

On the last nail-biter day of a presidential race that drew huge voter turnouts across the country, the quiet suburb of Belmont found itself squarely in the spotlight, thanks to one very famous resident.

On Tuesday morning, the scene around the Beech Street Center — usually a quiet oasis for senior citizens who want to quilt or play board games — hummed with Secret Service, extra police, and sign-toting residents as Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney cast his vote in the town he has called home since 1971.

“You’re going to win, Mitt!” someone in the crowd shouted, as Romney and his wife, Ann, left in a motorcade for a final day of campaigning.

As Belmont’s results came in Tuesday night, however, Romney proved not to be a favorite son. President Obama won 65 percent of the vote in Belmont, compared with Romney’s 34 percent, according to unofficial results. The election brought out 79 percent of the town’s 17,822 voters.

But supporters and nonsupporters alike agreed that it has been one heck of a campaign season for the town of 25,000 outside Boston.

“How many times do you have somebody from your hometown running for president?” asked Chris Doyle, standing outside Town Hall where she was serving as a poll watcher. Doyle avoided the hoopla at the Beech Street Center, where she usually votes, by casting an absentee ballot for Obama on Friday.

“I think everyone’s just happy to have the election over,” she said.

The spotlight trained on Romney, she said, has spilled over onto the town itself. The Belmont she sees on the news, she said, doesn’t match the town she has lived in since 2003.

“I think they’re looking to portray Romney in a certain light,” she said, and in pursuit of that image, the press has painted Belmont as a more exclusive place than it really is.

“I don’t know what kind of light it shines on Belmont,” William Sullivan, 32, said as he left Town Hall after voting for Obama. “It’s such a Democratic town.”

Belmont has not voted Republican in a presidential race since 1980. While Belmont residents threw their support to Romney when he ran for governor in 2002, they backed Edward M. Kennedy over Romney in a 1994 Senate race.

But while some in Belmont have grown weary of the attention, at least one resident said she wanted to see more members of the media walking the streets of Belmont.

Evelyn Cunningham, who has lived in Belmont for 50 years, said she thought Romney has not gotten enough good coverage in Belmont.

Casting her vote for her hometown candidate, she said, was a gratifying moment.

“I think he’s a source of pride to us,” she said.

At the Beech Street Center on Tuesday morning, Romney supporters made a strong showing.

A cheer went up outside the center as the Romneys left after voting. The crowd of about 200, many hoisting homemade Romney signs, broke into applause and hoots.

Asked by reporters inside the polling place who he voted for, Romney answered, “I think you know.”

Bill Dunham, a member of the Belmont Republican Town Committee, caught a glimpse of Romney giving “a nice wave” through his car windows. Dunham, 62, stood by a banner that read, “Belmont votes for Mitt and Ann,” which, he said, was meant to welcome them home to the community they have lived in for more than 40 years.

“They have a political side and a business side, but they’re part of the community.”